Professional Skillsets

Just a few weeks ago, I was lucky enough to attend an event called "Afroshoto", held at Boardners down in Hollywood. The event featured a small invitational Super Street Fighter 4 Tournament—8 total players, single elimination—as well as a small concert by a group called the Miles Mosley Band (which I recommend highly).

It was all in all a very successful event, especially for a Sunday night, which is hardly a major bargoing night. The band was excellent, the tournament was impressive (and watching Justin Wong go all the way with Makoto, my character of choice, was nice), and it was awesome as always to be at a public gaming event.

The band leader said something interesting, though, as they were setting up. I can't remember well enough to quote exactly, but the sentiment was something like this: For the first time in history, technology has advanced to the point that the toys of our childhood have evolved enough to remain our primary form of recreation as adults.

This stuck with me, long after the event itself. The more I think about it, the more I realize not only how true it is, but how important it is.

There are a few other analogues you can draw, to be sure. The closest analogue is music, but the amount of time you spend ONLY listening to music pales in comparison to the amount of time you spend ONLY playing games. And sports? Many people play sports as a kid, and then go on to watch a great deal of sports (arguably their main form of recreation) as adults. But how many people actually PLAY sports as their main form of recreation? Certainly some, and probably less than there should be, but not nearly as many people as 1. Play video games, 2. Played sports as kids, 3. Watch sports.

Now, I can't speak for anyone else, but what mesmerized me about watching the Super Street Fighter 4 Tournament was seeing the same game that I play at home, being played by some of the best in the world. Watching particular strings, and strategies that I had never thought to try, and knowing that if I invested the time and the patience, I could perform up to the very same standard. Maybe this is just because I don't watch professional sports, but it doesn't seem to me like the appeal of spectator sports is based around that same thought process.

Also, there's something very important that's missing from the spectator sport experience, I think. If I am inspired by watching a football game, or even a tennis match, not only do I need to go and find other people to play with (one if I'm lucky, many more if I'm not), but once I find them, I must compete against them. There just aren't sports that can be engaged in as anything other than a competition. It can be a friendly competition, to be sure, but it's still a competition.

What about if I got together with 24 other people and said, "I want to set up a raid"? We would, fairly easily, be able to set up a situation in which I can cooperate with a group of other people to take down some third party challenge, and obviously we would have to rely on Blizzard (or really any game developer) to balance the challenge so that it's both fun and difficult, but...the more I think about it, this kind of phenomenon just doesn't exist anywhere besides gaming.

Specifically, the idea of being provided with a third party challenge just kind of doesn't exist anywhere else, with the possible exception of rock climbing, solitaire, and puzzles—and all of these are primarily solitary endeavors. In a similar vein, video games allow simulated competition. Before the invention of the computer, after all, the only way to play chess was against another human being.

So the fascinating question at the heart of this (at least to me) is: How will the prevalence of games as an adult recreational activity affect society as a whole? I remember reading an article in WIRED a long time ago saying that some particularly wise tech companies were now considering "Being a guild master" as a legitimate indication of your executive abilities, or if nothing else, a serious plus for any organization and HR heavy job.

Being a hardcore believer in the positive influence of games (according to the ESA, roughly 63% of parents think of games as a positive influence on their household), I'm tempted to say that anything that promotes large scale cooperation to take down complex tasks is a plus. What about you? What positive effect do you see WoW having on your skill set?

Comments

Comment by Ashsworn

on 2010-08-24T20:07:36-05:00

Wow nice, never thought about it that way tbhWoW shows you how much time that you can to devote to something meaningless to yourreal life but something that matters personally. Shows your ability to use team skills, organise and sometimes take orders. Coordinating with people and organising events, lol wow when you think about it Warcraft Rocks :P

Comment by Bloodhawk713

on 2010-08-24T20:58:22-05:00

Superbly said.

As for the closing question; World of Warcraft demonstrates one's ability to focus, work together with people as a team, communicate with other people, and also shows your willingness to achieve goals.

Comment by Loldawg

on 2010-08-24T21:33:16-05:00

Erm multitasking... playing arena and working at the same time, talking on and off vent.. Iunno stuff like that, comm skills improve, you learn types of people n stuff on the net...Kinda usefull, but iunno. Sometimes i wish there was something else to do :S

Comment by Interest

on 2010-08-24T21:45:52-05:00

Superbly said.

As for the closing question; World of Warcraft demonstrates one's ability to focus, work together with people as a team, communicate with other people, and also shows your willingness to achieve goals.

This. Though people always complain about how pugs don't work together, over the years I've been convinced otherwise due to the skill sets listed above being improved among players as a whole =).

Comment by Cambo

on 2010-08-24T22:38:42-05:00

My typing skills have improved immensely by playing WoW. This was mainly through raiding and responding to PuGs in /trade. I've also learnt to be diplomatic, and to work as part of a team.

Comment by Hakunamatata

on 2010-08-25T00:51:41-05:00

My typing skills have improved immensely by playing WoW.

True. When I first started WoW I used to search for some letter keys on the keyboard, now I know it like the palm of my hand. :)

Comment by Dragoonman

on 2010-08-25T00:58:18-05:00

My typing skills have improved immensely by playing WoW.

True. When I first started WoW I used to search for some letter keys on the keyboard, now I know it like the palm of my hand. :)

AB-SO-LUTELY.

I remember starting WoW back in 2005... I SUCKED at typing so badly, that I finger pecked my way through.

After 1 year of WoW the keyboard was my friend. My good friend.

Comment by Exitum

on 2010-08-25T02:09:44-05:00

The computer as a whole has massively improved my typing and communication skills but one of the largest factors must have been WoW and i may alo add that it has made me more able to swallow my rage >.> which probably isnt healthy

Comment by mecheye

on 2010-08-25T03:00:11-05:00

I totally agree with all of this.

Sure we are getting better at a game, but what aspects of ourselves are we improving as well? We are still using our senses and minds to solve problems and work towards a goal. Something is improving.

If only people can feel the same about tabletop RPG's.

Comment by annasender

on 2010-08-25T06:42:49-05:00

I play WoW with my sons and not only have we learned collaboration with other players, patience, persistence and optimization skills (picking gear, attack rotations, etc.) there are other benefits as well.

My sons occasionally make assumptions about how things work, and WoW has proved to be a great laboratory to teaching rational thinking and using the scientific method.

Example - one of my sons was convinced that wearing a particular ring seemed to increase his probability of getting good loot. I suggested he keep track and prove it to which he replied "You're only trying to prove I'm wrong!" I convinced him that I had no stake in correctness, but that it would be interesting to really determine one way or the other.

Well as you might guess, it made no difference.

Being a game player myself since Pong, and being a manager who hires software folks now, my personal opinion is gamers often make the most collaborative, inventive contributors to teams. But perhaps I'm biased. :)

Comment by sorband

on 2010-08-25T06:45:59-05:00

my inglish haz impruvd sins i start play wow !No really, I'm a much better English speaker & listener than I used to be.I also learned how to be patientand kind with other people. Oh come on you &$^%$&* idiot druid , heal me ffs ! *&%$&$&(% priest rogue comps !

Comment by Emeraeld

on 2010-08-25T15:17:12-05:00

My whole family plays WoW. My oldest daughter was first, then my husband, then my youngest daughter and myself. We homeschool, and my youngest daughter (she was 8 when she began playing) was a VERY reluctant reader. Playing WoW dramatically improved her reading ability. So, thanks for that, Blizzard! :)

Comment by Aestu

on 2010-08-25T15:54:50-05:00

I don't agree with your assertion. Video games as a form of entertainment definitely have a minimum age requirement, and individual games are more or less appealing or appropriate for different age groups.

A responsible parent will not allow a child to play age-inappropriate games, not merely on the basis of violent or sexual or otherwise objectionable content, but simply because it is not appropriate to the developmental level of a child to play an overly complex, social or fast-paced game.

If I had a 12-year-old son, I wouldn't allow him to play WoW any more than I'd have him read Paradise Lost or The Peloponnesian War, or allow him to watch The Godfather or Schindler's List.

Part of maturing is the change one's tastes and attitudes from childhood. When I was a young child, for example, I liked sour gummy worms; today, I prefer licorice. Maybe when i'n in my thirties or fifties, I'll have a taste for something else.

To answer your question directly, OP, I think WoW has given me more perspective on human nature, the nature of authority, and how to influence people. It has taught me the value of patience, tolerance, restraint, honor. It has taught me to lead people. It has taught me to be audacious and enterprising, to seize opportunities, and to be stoic against upsets big and small and the vicissitudes of fortune. It has taught me the smallness and self-defeating nature of hubris.

Comment by ArthNegri

on 2010-08-25T16:52:37-05:00

Ok, I thought this text a bit complicated because I'm Brazilian but lets try to answer you:I'm only a student, but, I'm my point of view, WoW gives me a "passive buff" of happiness to do all my real life daily's: study, listen to my teacher and that kind of student's tasks. It makes me feel better every night I play with my buddies online trying to make Azeroth each day better.

Comment by canes

on 2010-08-25T17:52:37-05:00

People are telling me: "You are sitting in front of monitor whole day, why dont you do something useful?"

Heh, whut?As somebody said before: WoW improves team-play, focus and so on. But the biggest improvement for me is English. I used to be good at it on primary school, but they were teaching us alphabet. :X

Now I am nearly the best in my class only by playing WoW, attending guild raids and talking on ventrilo. I know that when I travel abroad, I wont use words like two-hand sword, mail armour or bloodlust, but I will be able to at least understand people. (tankspot videos without subtitles teached me a lot too ^^)

So dont sit whole day on your butt, sit there only half a day and it will be fine. :-P

Btw I dont like watching sports... What can you change? It will happen somehow and you can do nothing, just watch. I like doing things by myself ;-)

Comment by Izichial

on 2010-08-25T21:31:23-05:00

The OP touched on everything of what I'll write, but hopefully I'll be able to add something.

I suspect convenience and comfort plays a big part in why people continue to play video games as they grow up these days, as opposed to sports. To continue to do sports as an adult requires far more time and effort to get around to the actual activity than video games do - for many sports you need special equipment and for even more specific places to be which you need to buy / maintain and get to at regular times respectively.

Very few people (that are relevant to this discussion) do not have a computer at home already even though many of them might not have played video games much as a kid nor later, so the means to play video games will be standing there when you get home from work / studies / whatever. Sports? Go root through your drawers to dig out your sports clothes, find the racket or whatever the particular sport demands in the most deeply buried cupboard you have, pack everything into a bag, get into your car / take the public transport, go to the court / track / field, change into your sports gear, set up the necessary equipment and organise yourselves. Now you can get playing for an hour or two. Then do everything mentioned previously in reverse when you're done.

Video games are always available with almost no effort or planning required where team sports absolutely rely on a majority of the people involved in that particular team or group to have done everything described above and be there for a minimum time for them to be able to play at a meaningful level (apart from such activities that can still be classed as sports while being solitary such as the mentioned mountain climbing, but most of those still requires the same or even more time spent on getting to the activity itself as other sports).

Sports players also don't have access to the "pool" of people available for group activities that MMOs have, f.e., nor is any such realistically possible to recreate for any real life activity to any larger extent than sports leagues and the like.

The third party challenge point is well made, but I'd like to point out that while not common it's certainly possible outside of computers. Almost any sort of education can provide a third party challenge in problem solution by group, as can the kind of team building exercises you'd get at a company outing for such purpose. They just require a lot more effort to set up and get to and certainly more effort being made a meaningful group activity in comparison to what people are normally doing in an MMO. The latter is often as relatively simple as "find four other people and kill this dragon", but the games by their very construction (and inherent reward (systems)) make that activity far more complex in both execution and reward.

Comment by Hakunamatata

on 2010-08-26T00:38:40-05:00

What I also forgot to mention is that the game helped me to think quickly and critically. While it may seem noobish to attempt to tank dungeons and raids without knowing their tactics, I've been in WoW long enough to predict what's about to happen just by listening to what the NPC says or how his adds look/move.

This isn't useful in WoW alone, it's a life skill.

Comment by fighterqueen

on 2010-08-26T13:41:32-05:00

I too attended the Afroshoto event at Boardner's. It was an amazing night - made better by the fact that someone finally realized that the gaming world is just as much a part of the 'entertainment' industry as all other genres (I heard the concept was thought up and the whole night put together by the bandleader Miles Mosley, because he's such a fan of the video-gaming world). Adding live music to the event was inspiring (and fun!). I hope they do more. I grew up with computer games, and not only were they fun, but they improved my eye-hand coordination, familiarized me with computers and helped to evolve my strategic thinking - all of which I use today in my career.

Comment by irishsnout

on 2010-08-27T21:17:44-05:00

For just about every job interview or application the question arises, "what are your hobbies or intrests?" If you said play chess, poker, or monopoly It would not seem so wierd. If you said that you like to farm the auction house to make gold and organize raids or plan PVP , You could kiss that job goodbye. In reality, what skillset transfers better to your job? Does monopoly or aution house farming make you a better economist? Does chess or leading a premade BG give you better tactical skills? Look at how communication skills need to improve to run a raid with or without vent. Video games can create awesome skillsets. The problem is that they need to roll through a few generations like board games to be accepted as a serious pastime

Comment by qwertydood

on 2010-08-29T11:55:55-05:00

People keep saying "Why is WoW bad on your resume? Its the same as any other hobby or game."

Many employers have probably heard of how addictive the game is and how much time people spend obsessing over it. I don't think its too "out there" that they would deny you a job because they can't trust that you won't spend time on WoW instead of work-related activities. Plus, WoW has a way of distracting people's thoughts even when they are AWAY from the game, and I've heard plenty of people on these forums alone say that they are posting from work.

You guys really can't figure out why WoW looks bad on your resume?

Anyway, WoW is nowhere close to real life. Managing people as a guild leader is not remotely close to managing a company or even a 10 or 25 person group in real life. And, you have to remember, even IF it made you a better HR person or the like, you'd be a LOT better at it if you spent all the time you did playing WoW interacting with people face-to-face.

I apologize if I'm offending anyone, but people who think that WoW has a large positive impact on their life compared to other activities are kidding themselves and/or are in denial.